24 Hours Post Surgery
Hello everyone. I hope this email finds you all doing well. We are almost 24 hours post surgery and Savanna is doing very well. Her face is still swollen; I would say she no longer has the Goldie Hawn lips, but definitely Angelina Jolie lips. That could be a good thing! She seems to manage the pain pretty well, with the help of Fentanyl. I’m glad they were able to give something other than morpheine since I had heard that could make her sick to her stomach. Her x-ray this morning showed her lungs looked good. There is a concern when you have surgery like this and are lying on your back that pneumonia could settle in. In addition to praying that away, we are trying to stay on top of the breathing treatments, cough assist and suctioning. They did elevate her bed just a little today to try and help that as well.
Today is also her birthday. I never imagined she would be spending her 4th birthday in the hospital, but God showed me a long time ago that sometimes the holidays are more about what you are celebrating and less about the actual day that you celebrate it. I’m thrilled to see her doing so well and even more thrilled to look at her trunk and see a significant improvement and to know that she will no longer collapse while sitting in her chair. The doctor was commenting on how small and thin her pelvic bones are today and I was telling him that she had really gotten uncomfortable sitting in her chair the last few months. He said he was not surprised. Evidently all the weight of the body and her trunk collapsing supported by such small weak bones in the pelvic/hip area would be quite painful.
She has been in and out of sleep, but Nosy Nelly won’t really sleep with all the action going on around her. She’s afraid she might miss something! I swear she sleeps with 1 eye open; that way she can make sure I don’t leave her bedside for even a bathroom break. Yesterday the doctor wanted to show me the x-ray and she did not want me leaving. I told her to count how long I was gone and luckily her Daddy got there as she had just counted to 30, so I got a reprieve. Her anesthesiologist came by today to see how she was doing. I don’t think that’s typical for them to come by the next day, but who knows? They all gave her a birthday balloon and signed it. He signed it, “To the sweetest girl in the world.” Now who could argue with that!
As always, she amazes and inspires me with her strength, will and most of all peace. She can’t speak too clearly right now, I guess because of the sedation and the swelling. She kept asking me for something this morning and I couldn’t quite figure it out. She finally got thru to me. “Mama pray.” I asked her, “You want Mama to pray for you right now.” She said “Uh-huh.” I asked if she wanted to pray with me, “No.” So I put my face right next to hers and prayed for her. As I prayed her whimpering stopped and I could immediately sense the peace coming over her again. Such a simple, yet sweet request. I obviously needed a kleenex after that.
Yesterday while she was in pre-op, it was as if nothing was going on. She was her usual happy, chipper self, even at 5:30 in the morning. She was just talking and acting silly. As we laid there on the bed, I asked her if her angel was with her. She said yes. I asked her how many she had today and she counted, One, Two. I asked her what color they were wearing and she said white. She always looks up at them so that I can have an idea as to where they are. Then they came and wheeled her off to surgery and she was just talking the whole time. Every time I asked her if she was scared she would tell me no. If we could all have the same faith that she has.
As most of you know, this has been a tough week for us. On Monday we had to put our beloved Sadie to sleep. She was our “baby” before we had Savanna since we got her as a puppy 2 weeks after we were married. On Tuesday Tim found out that he has a hernia and will need surgery in the next month. That will be a very minor procedure; it’s just that he will be on light duty at work for 2-4 weeks, so we are praying that God will provide for us during that time. Luckily he caught it early so it is very small and not painful at all.
Savanna should remain in ICU for about a week and then she will go home from ICU. They will have her sitting up in her chair in a few days. She is still losing a small bit of blood from the surgery, but they do not feel they will have to do another transfusion at this point and they will continue to monitor it. I had been praying specifically all week that Dr. Davis woud be the staff ICU doc on Thursday and that Elaine would be the nurse practitioner on shift for Thursday. I was thrilled when we got to ICU yesterday and God had answered those prayers as well. We are so blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful staff at Cook Children’s.
As far as we know, there is not much we need right now. I know a lot of you have asked what you can do. I guess a few meals would help. I’m trying to find little ways to let people help, because as I am reading in the book, “90 Minutes in Heaven”, we steal people’s joy when we do not allow them to help us. I would imagine that Savanna can have visitors at this point, though she is in and out of sleep. It might be better to give her another day before she has too many visitors. The ICU is closed from 6:30-8 am and pm for shift changes.
Thank you all for your continued prayers for healing and comfort for her. I know she will continue to do great and look forward to when she is completely recovered, which is probably about 4 weeks away.
You can also leave a message in the PICU waiting area, but I do not know what that number is.
I’ll try to send another update in a few days.
Love and Blessings to all of you!
Mindy
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